“About once every four or five years, I try to find the kid in this photo.

Here’s the story behind it.

In 1996, I was outside of the locker rooms at Madison Square Garden in New York City after photographing a Rangers game that evening.

Standing right next to me were James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich- the singer and drummer of the band Metallica. 

I had been a huge Metallica fan for a decade at that point- having seen them in concert as the opening act for Ozzy Osbourne in 1986. Their music was a big part of the soundtrack of my youth.

So I struck up a conversation with the two of them. I learned that they were there to hang out with Jaromir Jagr- a star player for the Pittsburgh Penguins and a huge music fan. 

I then asked if I could shoot a picture of them. This was before selfies or digital cameras were a thing, so I didn’t even think to ask to take a picture of me with them.

Lars told me that for promotional reasons, it couldn’t just be the members of Metallica in the picture. The kid in this photo was nearby, so we asked him if he wanted to be in the picture.

I don’t think the kid had any clue who they were. 

We went on our merry ways, and every few years I think about this kid. He’s never seen this picture because it was never published in any magazine.

All these years later, Metallica is still one of the biggest bands in the world. I think it would be cool if he saw this. 

So I post this in the hopes that someone, somewhere knows who his is so we can get him this picture. 

And I still can’t believe I don’t have a picture of me with the boys from Metallica.”

Og posted by Vincent Pugliese on fb- the guy who took the picture 

This photo with Metallica and a random kid was taken in 1996. All these years the photographer and the band been trying to find out who the kid was